Burundi president wins controversial third term

 Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza was Friday declared the outright winner of controversial elections, handing him a third consecutive term at the helm of the central African nation despite opposition protests and international condemnation.

 

Nkurunziza won 69.41 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s polls, handing him an immediate first-round victory, the election commission said.

He won 16 out of 18 provinces, with the other two taken by his closet rival Agathon Rwasa — who won 18.99 percent — even though he had denounced the polls as illegitimate.

“We are very happy with this result,” said Pascal Nyabenda, the head of Nkurunziza’s ruling CNDD-FDD party, while insisting that the president will not be seeking a fourth term in 2020.

“These elections were well organised and took place in a situation of peace and security. I don’t know why a section of the international community say they were not credible. They were free, transparent and took place in security.”

Nkurunziza’s candidacy was condemned as unconstitutional by the opposition and provoked months of protests and an attempted coup, and his victory could trigger donor sanctions against the already impoverished nation.

There are also widespread fears the country, situated in the heart of central Africa’s troubled Great Lakes region, could be plunged back into civil war.

“What has just happened is the climax of a coup d’etat against the constitution by President Nkurunziza,” fumed Jean Minani, a prominent opposition leader.

“The opposition does not accept and will never accept that these were credible elections. We call on the international community not to recognise the results and to continue to push for real negotiations to prevent Burundi from going over the precipice,” he said.

Although eight candidates were on the ballot paper for the presidential polls, most withdrew from the race, with the closure of most independent media preventing them from campaigning. The election commission insisted however that turnout in the polls was a healthy 73.44 percent.

Anti-Nkurunziza protests have been violently repressed, leaving at least 100 people dead since late April.

Many opponents have also fled — joining an exodus of more than 150,000 ordinary Burundians who fear their country may again be engulfed by violence.

In mid-May, rebel generals attempted to overthrow Nkurunziza in a coup, which failed. They have since launched a rebellion in the north of the country.

The government dismissed criticism of the poll after the United States, European Union and former colonial power Belgium said the election was not credible.

In the latest in a string of attacks, four people were wounded in a grenade attack overnight Thursday on the house of an official from Nkurunziza’s CNDD-FDD party.

The 51-year-old president — a former rebel, born-again Christian and football fanatic — faced no serious competition in the polls, but critics have said his win will be a hollow victory, leaving him ruling over a deeply divided nation.

Nkurunziza’s party also scored a widely expected landslide win in last month’s parliamentary polls that were also boycotted by the opposition.

The last civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2006, left at least 300,000 people dead.

SOURCE: AFP